Gingerly Putting Baked Goods and Candy Together in the Shape of a House

A few days ago, I got an email from a friend asking if Morgan would like a leftover gingerbread house kit from her family since they didn't get a chance to put it together before Christmas.  I knew that would be right up her alley, and I'm not quite sure why we've never done one before.  So she put together her masterpiece, and I think a new tradition was born!  Yes, I'm aware it's late to be doing this, but it seems to be our method this year.  Kinda like this post.

I think she was afraid to run out of frosting, which I didn't have any extra of, so she skimped on it, and then squeezed the rest into her mouth. :)  There were lots of other candies that came in the kit that "wouldn't fit" on the house.  Clearly there wasn't one little inch left to fit one more piece.  Those had to be eaten right away also.  I loved watching her put this together.  I think she talked through the whole thing.  I have no idea what she was saying.  She just talked.  A lot.  And then she sang a little, and then talked some more between shoveling candy into her mouth and licking frosting off of her arm.  Good times.

Next year, I'm going to make an effort to pick one of these up before Christmas and let her have at it when most normal people do them.  Then again, there isn't much about us that's normal, but we sure have lots of fun being abnormal!

XOXOX

NH

A few miscellaneous facts.

1. Season 2 of Dance Mom's starts tomorrow.  Morgan and I watched the Season 1 marathon yesterday.  I can't wait for the new season!
2. I got some soft squishy yarn from my mother-in-law for Christmas, and I'm almost done with a sweater I'm making out of it!  It is going to be very warm.  It may make me nap at work.  I can't wait to show it to you.
3. I haven't gotten my pictures back from my bro yet.  I'll probably suspend the photo challenges.  If you'd like me to continue them, just let me know and I'll start them up again.  I'll continue to take pictures and post them here if you'd like to look at them.  I still have a few Christmas posts to make after I get my pictures from the fancy camera.
4. It's January 9th and I let my son go to school without a jacket.  UNHEARD OF!  Last time I checked, I lived in Minnesota.  This weather is just crazy.  It's supposed to be cold out.  And snowy.
5. I'm addicted to Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.
6. It's time to go work on my sweater.

XOXOX

NH

Yet Another Post About Hockey.

Sorry.  I can't help it.  Soon it will be dance competition season, and you'll get sick of me posting about dance.

Saturday we had a fun outside hockey day at our rink.  There were a bunch of games, mostly played by the Pee Wee teams in our association, there were Hawkdogs and brats, fire pits to keep us warm, and perfect weather.  We were worried that it would be too warm out to keep the ice frozen, but it was pretty good.

I will take this moment to re-live one of the top 5 most embarrassing moments of my life, since it occurred at the beginning of this fine hockey Saturday.  About 10 minutes after I got to the rink, I slipped on the ice and fell.  Flat on my back.  I hit my head on the ice kinda hard.  I was carrying my purse, various hats, mittens, and jackets for my family, and two bloody mary's in traveler coffee mugs.  Just a word of advice for you all - if you fall on the ice and hit your head, try as hard as you can NOT to spill two bloody mary's right next to your head that just hit the ice.  People kinda think that you cracked your head open and are bleeding all over the place. 

I wasn't bleeding.  I'm sorry to those of you that thought I was.  The goose egg on the back of my head is much smaller, my headache is gone now, and my sore muscles are healing.  Thank you so much to all of you that were concerned for me and came running to my assistance.  Like I said, I like to make a grand entrance.  I can't believe I wasted most of two perfectly good bloody mary's!  I hadn't even had a sip yet!  Grrr!

Ok, embarrassing moments out of the way, I will now share some hockey pictures.

The boys found retro throwback jerseys to wear.

We won our first game 11-0!  Then, it was time for the parent/child game!

Tired already guys?? You've only played 2 shifts!

We even had a hockey mom take part!  She is more brave than me!  I give her TONS of credit!!

Father/son punches being thrown...

The gloves are dropped...

At least it wasn't the boxers that were pulled up over his head!

I think everyone had a fun day!  In case you can't read the scoreboard in the background, the kids beat the parents 11-4!

XOXOX

NH

Christmas Photo Assignment, and some other stuff

Hey guys, I'm extending the Christmas photo assignment by a week, since it's already Tuesday, there were NO submissions (c'mon Luke and Tricia, I KNOW you have some to send in!), and all my Christmas pictures were taken on my bro's fancy camera, and since they are in Raw mode, I can't put them on my computer without him converting them to .jpg's for me.  I'm very excited to see my pictures on my computer, since I'm in LOVE with a 50mm lens.  I might name him Fabio.  I knew I never should have borrowed that camera. Sorry Nate.

Did you watch the season premier of The Bachelor last night?  I don't think I've watched since the Ryan and Trista season, but that commercial they played with the girl sobbing, and absolutely no dialogue was stinkin genius marketing, in my opinion.  That was some funny stuff.  Nothin like a little reality trash TV!  Plus, American Idol starts in a few weeks!  Squeee!  Although it's not the same without Paula and Simon, and I didn't really get into the X Factor either.

I went back to work today after a vacation of 10 days for the holidays.  I should probably refrain from commenting too much, but I'll just say that my time spent at home was much preferred to the time I spend at work.

The kids got a Kindle Fire for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa H.  I highly recommend it.  I'm sure we haven't even gotten a taste for it yet, and they love it!  Tons of free stuff you can get for it.  Very fun.

Lastly, if you feel so inclined, head on over to:

2012 bloggies

and nominate your favorite blog(s) that you read.  I'm not swaying you toward voting for any specific blog.  No, of course I'd never do that.  Ever.

XOXOX

NH

P.S. The pictures of my finished Christmas crafts are on the fancy schmancy camera too, so I'll post about those soon too!

A Brand New Year!

I can remember when I was in grade school, more than one teacher told me to keep up on my reading and academic skills over Christmas and Summer breaks, or my brain would turn to mush.  Yeah right.  Right?  Well now that I'm a grown up older, I guess I know what they meant.  If you don't keep working out your brain, you fall into the lazies, or at least I do.  It's very easy to just keep going with what you have, but it's hard to improve anything if you don't try new things and try to make things better.  Learning something new is pretty cool.  I like to learn.  I did not like school much, but I like learning things on my own time, and things that I'm interested in. 

I learned a lot in 2011. 

I learned a bunch of new knitting techniques.  Several books from the library, and videos on YouTube helped me huge.  I love looking at something finished, and researching how it was made, and just digging in and trying.  That "I did it!" feeling is awesome.  I completed several projects, and began documenting them online.  Seeing them all in one place is fun too.

I learned a TON about photography.  Most things I learned by researching them online, and just giving it a shot. Some of my attempts were successful, some of them were very very not.  I tried to learn from the ones that were not though, so I wouldn't do that again.  I'm loving this new hobby, and wish I had dug into it sooner, when my kids were much younger.  I still have a very long way to go, but I'm having fun getting there.  With the photography hobby came the blogging hobby.  I've learned that putting down my thoughts and sharing my pictures is really enjoyable, and it's fun to go back and read through what I've written.  It can actually be very therapudic.

My kids have tought me a lot about sportsmanship this year.  I can't explain how proud I am when Andy comes off the ice after a huge loss with a smile on his face.  That feeling beats the feeling after a win, hands down.  I don't know how he does it, but I am trying to be more like him, since I feel the disappointment after a loss (apparently way more than he does).  I hope he keeps that attitude forever.  Morgan has really learned what paying a small compliment to someone after a dance performance can do for them.  Even if it's not one of her closest friends, or someone she doesn't even know.  When you give a compliment, the added bonus is that you usually get one back!

I've also learned a lot about myself this year.  I like to think I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be.  I try to be good at all the things I do, but when I don't live up to my own expectations, I try to just let it go, and be ok with how things ended up.  I'm disappointed with my pictures from Christmas this year.  It doesn't mean that it made a terrible Christmas for everyone, and that I'll walk off the edge of the earth tomorrow.  It means that the pictures are a little blurry.  So what?  They will be better next year.  This is a really hard one for me to grasp, but I think I've improved on it a lot this year.

I asked my kids what they've learned this year, and Morgan said, "I learned that if you work really hard, you can earn a spot at the point of the pyramid in dance".  Andy said, "I learned that the Bulldogs are better than any hockey team anywhere."  I know they've learned more than what they even realize.  I'm watching them grow into young big people.  They are becoming more mature every day and it's been very fun to watch.  I can't wait to see what they will learn in 2012.

Nate had nothing to add when I asked him if he learned anything this year.  I know he learned a bunch at work though, taking on a new position exactly a year ago!  I think it has been a whirlwind of a year for him, but I think he's enjoying it.

So, in 2012, I'm going to try and continue to learn.  I will learn from my family how to be a better parent and wife.  I'll learn from coworkers how to do my job better.  I'll seek out new things to learn about my hobbies, and my kids' hobbies.  I won't succeed at everything I try to do, but I'll try to be ok with that.  I hope to inspire.  I hope to teach.  I hope to appreciate.  I hope to learn.

Wishing you a safe, healthy, happy 2012, and encourage you to continue to learn.

XOXOX

NH

A Short Story

Once upon a time (today) Morgan and I went shopping to Bath and Body Works and bought soap, lotion, body spray, and THREE lip glosses.  Then, we went to Wal-Mart and bought Swiss Cake Rolls (and some other stuff) and it was awesome.

Amen.

The End.

XOXOX

NH

The Christmas Build-up

I know I'm behind on posting what I've been up to in the weeks building up to Christmas.  It was such a busy time, so I'm going to sum it all up here in one post, as best I can.

More hockey games than I can count...

A Christmas dance recital, with a visit from the big guy himself at the end...

Hot tubbing and rolling in the snow with cousins...

Two separate Christmas programs at school, on two separate days...

Knitting, sewing, shopping, wrapping, ordering, planning, decorating, mailing, etc, etc, etc.

My friend Kristi posted on her facebook status this morning that she felt like she has a Christmas hangover.  All the prep work, and then BANG. It's over.  So very, very true.

I didn't get my Christmas crafting all the way done, but it was ok.  The recipients loved their gifts, and they both just needed a little finishing.  I will post more about them, and more about Christmas a little later. 

I hope you all were able to enjoy your weeks building up to Christmas, and didn't get too caught up in it all (like I often do) and get stressed out.  What is your favorite part of pre-Christmas festivities?  I love making hand made gifts for people.  They are always so appreciated!

And now, as I sit here and stare at my living room that Christmas barfed in, I am trying to decide what to do next, since I'm NOT at work today.  The options are:

1. Clean the living room and put all of our gifts away.
2. Search Ravelry for a new sweater pattern
3. Take a shower and get ready for my afternoon dentist appointment.
4. Take a nap.

Hmmmmm...  Decisions, decisions...

Have a great day!

XOXOX

NH